Purity:Four of the Four Ideals of Womenhood

Purity as an ideal strongly referred to a women’s virginity. To lose purity before marriage was one of the worst sins a women could commit. She was almost immediately ostracized from society. Stories about these women usually had the character dying in poor conditions to assure women this was not the life they wanted. This time involved an extremely strict conduct of purity. Legs of tables and chairs were all covered so they would not remind people of human limbs. Also, male and female authors were to be separated on the bookcase. This “purity fetish” is what lead to creation of stories that involved the stork bringing babies to families. A women’s sexual virtue was considered her most valuable possession and was even considered the only power that a women could hold over a male.

Citation:
Lavender. "The Cult of Domesticity and True Womanhood."
www.library.csi.cuny.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2010.
truewoman.html>.